Anna Banana: Bananapost (Twenty Years of Fooling Around with A. Banana)

“A long-time player in the International Mail-Art Network, her current work focuses largely on the stamp as an art form. For this, her 20th anniversary of ‘going bananas,’ she has created a special limited edition stamp sheet and book, Twenty Years of Fooling Around with A. Banana. These publications offer visual highlights and a brief ‘itinerary’ of her activities, year by year, since 1970. A Master’s Degree of Bananaology will be awarded to all ‘graduates’ of her talk and screening sessions, or to contributors of banana anecdotes for her ongoing, work-in-progress, the Encyclopedia Bananica.” (grunt press release,1990)

“Ms. Banana battles the forces of opression as ‘Banana’ is banned on personal license plates in in BC & Saskatchewan, due to its ‘sexual connotations’.” (Twenty Years of Fooling Around with A. Banana, 1990)

“Whenwell-rested and dressed up I have been taken for 40 years old. I am the father of 15 children and have had not strays – I have been tempted, but I have strong will power. I’ve pulled my own teeth and sewed my own cuts – as well as a few other people’s cuts.”

“I have been a good axe man and a fair lover. I am not conceited but love to brag the truth and I am considered a good story teller. Will that hold you, dear Reader?”

“As my life has been up and down like a yo-yo, I think you will get a kick out of it. I will try to express the humorous parts as they happened”

Long time archives volunteer Alex Pimm has curated a selection of videos from our archive to celebrate grunt’s 30th anniversary. Check out the trailer for Neil Eustache’s Indian Art for Sale below and watch the full videos here:

Long time archives volunteer Alex Pimm has curated a selection of videos from our archive to celebrate grunt’s 30th anniversary. Check out the trailer for Neil Eustache’s Indian Art for Sale below and watch the full videos here:

“The three artists work with the wearable costume as a means to represent an indigenous body, while dealing with the stereotypes and realities of aboriginal communities.”

“Collecting soil from favored places on his reserve, Peter kneaded the dirt into a chose business suit. In this creative act he is collecting parts of his land, gathering memories of Tahltan life, and bringing those ephemeral aspects together with his everyday existence in a world of cement, buildings, glass, and work.”

“Sonny (Assu) chooses the entity of Spider Man/Peter Parker to connect with because of Spiderman’s organic ‘powers’. The mixture of spider and human attributes contrasts well with many the figures in West Coast folklore; many spirits are a combination of abilities that can shift from animal to human forms, have incredible spiritual powers and watch over the community, teaching the individuals social and survival skills…The fusion of West Coast Native and pop culture is a mirror of Sonny’s own cultural background.”

“Sonny, Peter, and myself are example of Native culture sustaining itself and utilizing traditional aspects to provide a spiritual or emotional strength. The traditional clothing still stands for security, for taking that security out into the public and using it to exude confidence and poise no matter what the situation, while remaining grounded to our ancient beliefs.”

“I realized that as a Métiswith Negro ancestry, my view would follow a different line than the First Nation or white people. I painted these images so they could become real for me. I wanted to make some form of connection to ideas and concept that I am unfamiliar with. I did not know that there was a culture that I as a Métiscould relate to….I come from a nation of people who roamed this land thousands of years ago, and there is a nation of people roaming, looking for some positive aspect of their past, they are called Métis. Their connection to the land goes deep. It is just finding the recognition, that they too are concerned with identity.” (Artist’s Statement, Aboriginal Immersion, 2002)

Fusing an iconography of images (animal and human figures, colors) inspired by his own Chipewyan Native culture, and some of his own personal symbols, he has created a story of individual triumph. He places the work within positive context and fills the canvas with a multitude of strong optimistic metaphors, and through this he is able to create images of strength for himself. As artist and creator, he is forming a definition of what identity is all about and can acknowledge both sides of his background.” (Daina Warren, curator, 2002)

“I cannot speak for all, but it seems to me that there comes a time in every life when one must step out of the traces of commercialism and then, without too much preparation or direction, be set loose. For me that time came early, unexpectedly, and was not entirely of my own making. One of the very first things I realized in my new situation was that the there is no invention that more greatly shrinks the physical and mental capabilities of the human being than the rocking chair; seated in one, I saw my world closing in on me.” (Artist’s Statement, Yard Work, 1988)

“George Sawchuk’s ‘something other’ is his life’s experiences as a labourer and handyman, combined with his youthful indoctrinations in both Catholicism and Bolshevism. These alone would account for Sawchuk’s individual perspective. As an artist, though, Sawchuk is also amoung a minority of individuals - those for whom the biographical element is pre-eminent if not pre-emptive to the conditions of being an artist, and for whom pragmatism is more important than specialization.” (Ron Glowen, Arbour and Object: Sawchuk’s Forest Site Works, Yard Work, 1988)

“In the portables, we find specific references to the value of self-reliance and individual autonomy; the site-specific project in the landscape reiterates, in the site itself, the dialectics manifested in the portable works. It likewise challenges and critiques the cultural hegemony that would have us believe that a product has value only when it is sold.” (Anette Hurtig, Ideas Made Object, Yard Work, 1988)